Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Hideaway by Penelope Douglas

32 reviews

kaylabrotzman's review against another edition

dark tense

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Physical abuse

littlebookishfairy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

FIVE STARS BABY!!!!! You kidding me Kai Mori HELLO BABY ILY 🫶🏻💕 inject this into my bloodstream cause this was the right amount of smut and plot and I’m here for it!!!! 

Spoiler warning but, banks stealing the dogs has me going awooga ily 🫶🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

curicastic's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

THIS WAS A JOURNEY, PEOPLEEEEEEEEEE. 

PSA: This is a dark book and I went into it knowing that. They're not my fave books but I read them once in a while.

I  liked this one. Kai Mori is more balanced than Michael (First Book), and so he had more interesting feature instead of JUST being an asshole. 

And Can we talk about Nikova Banks? Girl... I need to take you to therapy YESTERDAY. I felt awful for her the whole book. Damon is a piece of shit. 

I sense a Penelope Douglas pattern here... this book could've been 100 pages less. The mystery wasn't really misterious, I'm beginning to think that Douglas is just a little too in love with her ideas and repeats them a lot. It's still good, but I think it'd be a stronger book if it was filtered (not the evil/fucked up stuff, but the editing standpoint where you don't overstretch your scenes and plot devices.).

For Example, Banks being Damon's daughter was an interesting fact... for the first few dozen scenes. But when you freaking pull it until the (almost) whole book? It gets repetitive and low key boring. Michael not telling him? Weird.

I'm honestly worried about book 3... I don't think I can like Damon after all he's done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Addiction

modjeskapup's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

theteamsreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A further exploration into the world-building and characters at hand, this time we follow Kai Mori, who is desperate to get ahold of childhood lover-turned enemy Nikova Banks, to find Damon Torrance and bring him to justice for his crimes.  However, Banks is smart and more loyal to Damon than the other Horsemen realise.  The plot for this series only seems to get better and better, with always-promised spice and an increasing plot as tensions rise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gun violence

Minor: Body shaming and Car accident

dianasofia8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Violence

niyahneal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

ladylovestead's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is the second book in the devil's night series. You do need to read the first book in the series to understand what is happening in this one. It helps to read the first one as well because Rika and Michael are in this one and you get to enjoy seeing their relationship develop a bit more. This romance focuses on Kai and Banks. Banks is one of the most interesting characters I've read about in a long time. I absolutely loved her and she is one of my top favorite characters of all time. Her transformation in this story was so wonderful, and this would have been a great book if that's all it was, but it was more than that. Not only did we see this wonderful character transformation in Banks, but we get to know Kai and see how he struggles with this inner battle between the dark and light parts of himself. The book also has thriller elements with the storyline about Damon that continues from the first book. This was a great read if you like dark romance and I'm excited to read book 3! I don't like to share triggers because some find them to be spoilers, but if you need to know triggers, do look them up before reading.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Stalking, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Murder

coligmueller's review against another edition

4.5

I am shocked at how much better this one is than the first. Kai still has issues with misogyny, but not nearly as bad as Michael or Damon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Lesbophobia and Gun violence

_youfloweryoufeast_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 ⭐️


Genre: Dark Romance
Age group : Adult
POV : First person / multiple POV
Characters: 3/5 ⭐️
Plot: 3.5/5 ⭐️
Setting/Themes: 3/5 ⭐️
Writing: 2/5 ⭐️
Spice : 4 ⭐️

• Please check TWs & CWs
• mature language, sexual scenes, violence, arson, mentions of kidnapping, vandalism, sexual assault, mentions of statutory rape, child abuse, implied blasphemy, murder, attempted murder, guns, substance abuse, mentions of mental illness, loss of a loved one, slut shaming & more.
• Dark romance
• Tropes : Brother’s best friend (but make it dark & gritty)
• HEA

“Run. Because I turn into a very different person when no one’s looking”

Okay so, did I like this better than corrupt? Yes. Was it a lot more problematic, too? Of course. But I saw a tweet today speaking of how we’re not allowed to berate dark romances for it’s problematic aspects as that’s the entire point of the genre. And that if we intend to, we might as well not read it. While I do particularly disagree, I’m not going to complain about it, I will highlight a few though. Overall, the plot intrigued me. I liked the suspenseful, horror esque elements in the book, I really did. 

Nikova Banks. Okay, for the most part, her judgement and her jaded view of love for her brother and how she thought he was right all along pissed me off, but it did make me understand how victims of abuse felt. It’s heartbreaking, truly. I liked her strength and grit, though. I liked how she had the ability to think, and I do think she’s particularly intelligent. On top of it all, I liked the way she functioned. She’s a badass. 

Kai Mori. Dare I say I liked Kai? I did not like Michael but I did love Kai. Sucker for strategic, intelligent and calculating men (people in general) also a sucker for simps, that mess up and grovel after. 

My issues: 

- the misogynist tendencies of all the men in the book (toy or tool, iyk, yk)
- the fetishism of WLW for the sake of the men’s satisfaction 
- the shaming of escorts/sex workers 
- slut shaming 
- usage of berating names (not in a kinky way, but a really mean way) 
- the sexual interaction between an 18 & 17 year old ?!
- the way women were berated 
- a brother talking horribly about his sister 
- the Japanese rep?¿ she could’ve done it better, truthfully

Welp, there’s so much more. But as I said, no complaints, yes? Will I continue on with the rest of the books in the series? Yes, since I impulsively bought them all.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment and Child abuse

Minor: Murder

There’s a lot more triggers, please search it up.